


can't spell lifeblood without "u"

by whochanwoo



Series: times jeno thinks jaemin lives up to his "special friend" title [4]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Attempt at Humor, Background Character Death, Boys In Love, Childhood Memories, Fluff, M/M, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Strangers to Lovers, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, and also, bcos well its an assassin au, friends to strangers, i really forgot to add, will tag more if i need to
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:54:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25957054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whochanwoo/pseuds/whochanwoo
Summary: It’s almost as if Jaemin saw the memory playing out in Jeno’s head, read Jeno’s mind screaming his name again, and again, and again. “Don’t do this. Mark Lee’s my friend.”“I still think of you as a friend,” Jeno retorts.OrIt took nine 9 years (plus more) for Jaemin to come back to him for good.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: times jeno thinks jaemin lives up to his "special friend" title [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838488
Comments: 11
Kudos: 38





	1. jeno finds out where jaemin is

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoy :)

Jeno knows there isn’t any other warrior fiercer than him. No other has ever exceeded him in the entire 12 years he’s worked for South Korea’s top organisation which is why he’s standing there in the doorway, leaning against it while the others stand on guard. He knows he deserves that leeway at the very least.

He’s served this organisation for 12 years, has done his best, and has brought them immense wealth and achievements due to his skills. He deserves to do whatever he wants after working his ass off to become every soldier’s role model. He deserves to move to the table at the side and pour himself some scotch—ignoring his juniors’ cautious eyes—while Renjun blabbers on endlessly.

“You’ve all been promoted recently and now you’re soldiers. If you think you’ve reached the peak of the mountain, stop right there. Even now, we have ranks that you can climb up to. Now, it’s no serious competition, just something to motivate you to do better.” Renjun gestures to Jeno who’s quietly sipping on his scotch, smiling in pride. “Take for example, our Number 1 soldier up to this day, the General, Sir Jeno.”

Everyone in the room turns to Jeno. He sips once more on his drink, looking down at his wristwatch to check the time before looking back up at Renjun. The latter grits his teeth, rolling his eyes at what Jeno’s implying; “stop wasting my time.” 

“Whatever goals you had in mind, if it’s not to be as good as or better than Sir Jeno, forget it. You should all aim to be better than Sir Jeno.” Renjun then motions for his subordinates waiting by the side to bring out the boxes containing Grade-A bulletproof vests. “Before I send you off to do just that, here is a little present from the organisation.”

“So we’re really getting it!” One of the newbie soldiers positioned near Jeno turns to his friend and whispers. 

Jeno eyes them for an extra second before clearing his throat. “You guys friends?”

The soldier who talked jolts and seals his lips close. Seeing Jeno staring at him, he swallows down his fear and answers, “Yes, we’re friends.”

“Wow,” Jeno’s eyebrows twitch up in fascination. “How old are you? How long have you been training?”

“I’m 15,” the soldier responds. “I’ve been training since I was 9.”

“Impressive. When I was promoted to soldier, I was 12. You’re not bad at all, actually. Work hard and I may just see you as Captain one day.” Jeno sets his glass of scotch down as he makes it clear he’s done talking.

The soldier nods to Jeno’s words and promptly darts his eyes to the front. Jeno thinks they’re a lucky bunch. Back when he trained to get promoted to soldier, almost all of his friends were slain during missions. The last friend he had dropped out halfway after his brother got killed in a mission too. Jeno got promoted all in his lonesome along with a handful of other soldiers he never really got along with at first. 

It wasn’t until he took on a powerful gang’s boss along with his right-hand and top assassin that he was promoted to Captain straight away at the age of 16. He took in four boys within the soldiers to mentor, and when he completed a grand-scale mission beyond the borders did he rise up another rank to General. 

He met Renjun a few years after serving as a soldier. Once he established a connection with Renjun, the Chairman’s son and the heir to Elite, the board of directors started showing him more respect. It did help that he knocked out their bodyguards in the conference room when they wanted to stop him from lunging at Renjun. They were fighting, like always, like what friends do, but Renjun had overdone it by calling Yangyang, Jeno’s disciple, useless. 

Like today, Jeno’s in the mood to tease Renjun. 

“Chief Executive Officer Huang, may I know why I was called here?” Jeno saunters up to Renjun after the soldiers have left.

“Well, there is a new grand-scale mission that I need to announce to you and your boys.” Renjun walks on ahead to the back and leads him to the conference room where the rest are already waiting. “This is about one of the strongest gangs in the country suddenly wreaking havoc wherever they go.”

“The one that’s been dormant this whole time? The Hyenas?” Jeno squeaks out, confused as to why that particular gang decided to act up now. “Who’s running the gang now?”

“Same person, but I’m convinced either his right-hand or his advisor changed because his usual bodyguards are nowhere to be found.” Renjun takes a seat at the head of the table while Jeno takes the one at the other end.

In terms of superiority, none of the two are better than the other. If Jeno’s the one who manages the soldiers and has the power to deploy them, Renjun has the power to get rid of them.

“Everyone got replaced,” Jeno concludes. He sighs and looks at his boys listening to his and Renjun’s conversation. They look like they’d rather be at home, sleeping, and it’s not unusual save for Yangyang looking the same. He asks, “Rough day?”

“Rough week.” Donghyuck scoffs. 

“Rough month,” Chenle one-ups him. 

“Rough year so far!” Yangyang chimes in cheerily as if he isn’t thinking of running away because of the workload he’s had to handle this year alone.

“Rough decade,” Jisung says with a snort. 

“You’ve only been working for Elite for ten years,” Renjun joins in, pointing out the oddity in what Jisung said.

“Exactly.” Jisung rolls his eyes. 

“Anyway, how many targets do we have this time around?” Jeno cuts in before the conversation could deviate to another path. “If you assign me more than 5 opponents at once I will kill you instead, Injun.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not more than 5. It’s just 1 for each of you.” Renjun smiles when Jeno glares. “For you, we have Kim Sangyeon, the boss. For Jisung, we have Lee Minhyuk, his right-hand man. For Chenle, we have Choi Rijin, the advisor. And for Donghyuck, we have two bodyguards. Prioritise taking down Lee Wook. Mark Lee isn’t a threat.” 

“Why isn’t Mark Lee a threat? What did Lee Wook do?” Donghyuck questions.

“Lee Wook is the one managing the small fries that go around slaughtering people for money. Mark Lee’s job is to conserve the safety of the base. However, if you get the chance, do take down Mark Lee too.”

“What about me?” Yangyang chirps from the side.

“You still have your shoulder injury to be mindful of so you’re assigned to lookout and runaway duty.” Renjun swiftly moves on to the next topic which is basically just running through the basic profile of their targets. 

Once that’s done, the four boys are dismissed, leaving Jeno and Renjun to talk alone. Jeno hasn’t contacted Renjun for months now since he’s had to handle a mission in Jeju just recently. He was planning on taking a break but Renjun called them over before he could.

“How’s your Dad holding up?” Jeno asks just to start their conversation up.

“Eh, the old man’s fine. He’s even more energetic than the younger board directors.” Renjun shakes his head out of good will. “Did you see the new soldiers today? You think any of them is good?” 

“That one kid got promoted at 15, I was impressed.” 

“Ah, yeah, the one your youngest kid recruited,” Renjun says.

“Jisung recruited that boy? Nice.” Jeno grins.

“Yeah, I also have to inform you about something else.” Renjun seems nervous. He rarely is given his position in the company at this young of an age. He can’t be nervous even when he’s sleeping or the board of directors will call him a greenhorn and eject him out of his seat. Jeno frowns as he waits for Renjun to go on. “Kim Sangyeon’s old advisor is Na Jaemin.” 

Hearing that, Jeno takes a deep breath in, unable to hold his composure calm for long. 

**_“Why would you leave me?” Jeno cries for the first time in his 12 years of life. As a boy, he’s been raised far too frequently as a man. No tears allowed, no weaknesses. This time, though, Jeno doesn’t care._ **

**_Jeno’s shaky hands reach out for Jaemin’s. Their hair flows in the wind, obscuring their vision from completely seeing each other’s emotions rawly displayed on their faces. Jaemin’s impassive persistence, and Jeno’s simple heartbreak. He’d have nobody in this world to care for if Jaemin leaves him too. Jeno wouldn’t have any reason left to work hard._ **

**_“Nana, please, don’t leave me.”_ **

Jeno gets up from his chair, almost stumbling as he does so. Renjun is honestly surprised to see how much Na Jaemin affects Jeno. 

“Injun, I’ll be taking my leave first.” Jeno is quick to wobble out of there to avoid Renjun’s questions. 

Once he gets on the lift, Jeno does as his free will and leans against the wall for support. His knees feel like jelly, his arms feel like jelly, his eyes sting. Even now, he has never let go of Na Jaemin. When the four boys were under Jeno’s mentorship, he gave them one important task from the get-go. He showed them who Na Jaemin is, let them read his profile, and he told them to inform him if any word about Na Jaemin got out. 

Word about Na Jaemin never got out, until now. Jeno finally understands how Jaemin could’ve stayed under the radars for so long. He joined a gang that’s been dormant for years. They’ve never caused trouble, only dealing with firearms and killing when they have to, which explains why Elite never paid attention to them. However, Jaemin’s luck ran out, as it seems. 

Whipping his phone out, Jeno dials Yangyang’s number, waiting a second or two before the latter picks up the call. “Yeah, gather the rest of the boys and come back to my place.” 

“Is something up, Boss?” Yangyang asks after shushing the rest who are goofing around. 

“Remember Mission 0 that I gave all of you when I took you in?” Jeno steps out of the lift, shoes clicking against the polished tiles. The ladies managing the front counter bows as he passes. Soldiers and other employees bow too as he passes them to leave the building. 

“Na Jaemin’s back?”

“Na Jaemin’s back.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little intro to characters, and some worldbuilding involved hehe if ure wondering why mark isnt one of jeno's subordinates u'll know why later.
> 
> like always with my chaptered works, i will be updating every 2-5 days. 
> 
> leave comments whenever u want to, i'd love to read ur thoughts. 
> 
> IG (@warmdaelight)


	2. mission: find na jaemin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pre action chapter :) more on the boys instead

Jeno barges into his own house with four bags of food meant for 10 people. There’s only 5 of them but aside from Jeno and Yangyang who eat quite moderately, the rest are monsters when it comes to food. Jisung alone can eat up to 3 portions. Jeno doesn’t blame them, though, because they’re still growing. They need the food. 

“Hey, Boss!” Jisung teeters to Jeno and grabs the bags of food from him to set it on the table. Donghyuck who’s busy playing PUBG gets shoved away, making him lose. Jisung sees that, blinks, and smiles innocently. “Oops.”

“Park Jisung,” Chenle scolds him before Donghyuck could scream. 

“Eat up while I tell you more about your side mission. I’m not telling you to prioritise the main mission given by Renjun, but I’m also not telling you to take my side mission lightly. It’s of equal importance.” Jeno takes a seat next to Donghyuck and starts to dig in. “If things go wrong because of the side mission, don’t worry. I’ll take the blame. Take it as a test of loyalty. Who are you more loyal to? Elite, or me?” 

No one says another word. They’re more loyal to Jeno, of course, but no one will say it out loud. Elite is always listening in, always watching. Although they are aware how loyal Jeno’s boys are, they couldn’t do anything because of lack of evidence. Thus, they’re always on guard. Jeno wouldn’t know if one of Elite’s top assassins planted a bug on them or something. 

Jeno was the one who took each of them in. First, Yangyang who was one of the soldiers who took a hard hit in the battlefield to protect Jeno’s rear. 

Second, Donghyuck whose abilities were limited to being one of the board director’s bodyguards. He was strong enough to hold Jeno back for a good minute the day he wanted to attack Renjun. 

Third, Jisung who managed to outrun Jeno after botching one of his missions. 

And fourth, Chenle who sheltered an injured Jeno in his house. Chenle fended off the enemies who were after Jeno’s head using his own resources, by himself. He laid traps and had blindspots to make it easier for him to take down the enemies. 

Each one of them was impressive in a way. Yangyang’s loyalty, Donghyuck’s strength, Jisung’s agility, and Chenle’s intelligence. In terms of their individual specialties, they could have upended Jeno in a heartbeat if they were given proper training. Therefore, that’s what Jeno did. He gave them proper training. Of course, in terms of overall skill, none of them could exceed Jeno. 

Out of the four of them, only Yangyang and Donghyuck were already serving as soldiers before they were taken under Jeno’s wing. Jisung was your classic teenage rebel and Chenle was a civilian. 

“Na Jaemin... I remember him.” Yangyang smiles. He avoids Jeno’s peculiar look stabbing into his existence and continues on. “He was tied with you, right, Boss?” 

“Tied with him? You mean, like, married?” Chenle perks up at the slightest hint of news.

“No, he meant in the ranks,” Donghyuck says with a sigh, disappointing Chenle’s expectations of having new juicy gossip to talk about. 

“Yeah, he was as skilled as me. We could complete risk-scale missions together without any other assistance. Just us two. And we were just recruits at that point of time.” 

Jeno preens as he thinks of his old self as a soldier. He was just a tad bit colder to everyone—including Jaemin—but that was only because Elite expected so much out of him.

**_Jeno walks off from the training grounds, head held high and nose pointed to the ceiling as he relishes in the higher-ups’ proud gazes. Jeno turns to Jaemin who’s watching at the side and a small smile breaks out when he sees his friend giving him a thumbs up. The examination went smoothly for Jeno._ **

**_He walks past his peers and heads to Jaemin straight away. That’s his only friend left. After Sora died, Jeno took quite some time to recover from it seeing as how she was one of the last to survive. Jeno becomes even more dependent on Jaemin once he realises Jaemin is all he has left._ **

**_“Jeno! You did well!” Some of the soldiers by the side praise Jeno, making him freeze in place. “No ill will! We just think you’re really good.”_ **

**_He didn’t know what to do. They’ve tried multiple times to approach him but all he does is ignore them and hang around Jaemin. When Jeno trots to where his friend is waiting, he receives a scolding almost immediately._ **

**_“If someone talks to you, you should respond. Don’t be rude.” Jaemin frowns, staring right at Jeno who feels like cowering into himself. “Are you listening?”_ **

**_“I didn’t have anything to say to them,” Jeno mumbles._ **

**_“Thank them at the very least.” Jaemin rolls his eyes. “You’re lucky I love you or else I would’ve caved your face in for being so impolite.”_ **

“If he wanted to, he could’ve caved my face in anytime.” Jeno laughs. “But if I wanted to, I could’ve done the same anytime. We were equally matched.” 

“Boss, did you love this guy or something?” Donghyuck throws out all of a sudden, unabashed. While Jeno chokes on his food, Donghyuck stares at him dead in the eyes and waits for his answer. “I mean, no problem if you do, really.” 

“I know, but you didn’t have to ask it out loud.” Jeno swats the back of Donghyuck’s head just because he can. “Well, I didn’t love him but… he’s special to me.” 

“Nice,” Jisung says with a shit-eating grin when he sees Jeno’s ears and face flushing red.

Jeno spends the rest of mealtime explaining the layout of The Hyena’s base and spends another few hours predicting where Na Jaemin would possibly be. He assigns Jisung to search for Na Jaemin after taking care of his target. For Yangyang, he tells him to watch the exit so that he can monitor anyone who leaves.

“Won’t CEO Huang scream at you for jeopardizing the mission’s success?” Yangyang asks once they’ve gone over the whole plan. 

“Like I said, if that happens, I’ll bear all the responsibility.” Jeno tries to wave their concern away but Donghyuck’s persistence overcomes it.

“We know, but we just don’t want you to go through unnecessary trouble.” 

“For Na Jaemin, I’ll go through all the trouble to see him one last time at the very least.” Jeno’s tone makes it obvious enough that he intended to end this conversation right here. The rest are sensible enough to notice that. 

That night, Jeno stands in front of his window, overlooking the bustling city. He sees the world right before him, and he feels relief yet fear at the thought of Jaemin being out there. Picking his phone up, Jeno sends a text to Jaemin’s old number. He knows Jaemin would have his phone changed, and he knows he’s texting to a dead line, but Jeno doesn’t care.

“Jaemin, two days from now, we’re going to raid your gang’s base. Our targets are your boss, his right-hand man, the advisor, and that ugly bodyguard,” Jeno records a voice message to send to Jaemin, “Do whatever you want with this information but don’t get in my way, or I’ll catch you and bring you back to Elite.”

Jeno thinks that’s highly unlikely to happen. If Hyena’s boss really had his advisor or right-hand man changed, it means Jaemin would want the new ones to be taken down. 

The type of person Jaemin is, with the temperament he has, he wouldn’t have joined any organisation or gang if it didn’t mean he’d be promised with a high position. He must have been overthrown within the gang. Even if he knew Jeno’s full plan, he wouldn’t stop Jeno and his team unless they go after the members who matter to Jaemin. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“This will be the equipment your boys will be using tomorrow.” Renjun gestures for his guards to pull out the bulletproof vests, tactical earpieces, camera glasses, and more. “Jeno, yours will arrive any minute now, so I suggest you wait a while.”

“Woah, this is even better than the one I got for my previous mission!” Chenle jumps in excitement when he’s handed his stuff. “I know this is a grand-scale mission but I didn’t know the difference between this and a risk-scale mission was this big.” 

There are, in total, 5 different categories to sort missions in. The least to most dangerous missions were called stress-scale, fear-scale, risk-scale, nation-scale, and grand-scale. Captains like the four of them could complete risk-scale missions alone while a General like Jeno could complete a low-tiered nation-scale mission alone. It’s all about authority.

The fact that they’ve been promoted so high up in the ranks proves their strength. There might be soldiers who are as strong as them, or could even exceed them in a certain aspect, but they haven’t had enough experience to handle missions alone. 

Although some soldiers have served Elite longer than Jisung and Chenle did, they could never keep up to their skills. The soldiers could never be as adaptable and quick-witted like they are due to the lack of experience. Most times, strength can never prove one’s full potential. For example, a lightweight like Jeno could take down Donghyuck who’s fairly stronger than him in a heartbeat due to his skills. 

“Send your shit to me and I’ll do a little tinkering.” Chenle grins as he looks at the rest. “These are still a little lacking.”

“These are one of the best I’ve gotten for you,” Renjun mumbles dejectedly.

“It’s good! Its quality is so high it would be easy for me to fix. My tool parts would probably be compatible.” Chenle beams when Jeno and the other boys hand their stuff over to him. “I’ll work on the earpieces so if The Hyenas have jamming signals it won’t affect our main form of communication. I’ll add better rims for the glasses so it won’t fall off. I’ll add built-in tasers for the vests and pockets for tranquilisers.”

“Why tranquilisers?” Renjun makes a confused sound stemming from the back of his throat. 

Chenle blinks. He decided they’d need tranquilisers just in case Jeno wanted Jaemin or anyone else caught alive. Of course, he can’t reveal that to Renjun. Within a blink’s worth of time, Chenle’s already had a full blown answer.

“For the targets of course!” Chenle gestures to the files relating to their targets set on the table by the side. “They’re all trained so we do need the extra help if we can. Plus, if I remembered correctly, tranquilisers are board-approved by the Chairman himself.” 

“Oh, yeah, makes sense.” Renjun nods dumbly. “Damn, you warriors are in another league.”

“Alright, I’ll see you guys here, 5AM. Good luck, Chenle,” Jeno interrupts. “Any of you turn out to be late, everyone gets punished.” 

“See you, Boss!” Yangyang calls out cheerfully, waving his hand animatedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mission scales from least dangerous to most dangerous:
> 
> stress-scale > fear-scale > risk-scale > nation-scale > grand-scale 
> 
> rank of soldiers from lowest to highest:
> 
> recruit > soldier > captain > general 
> 
> //
> 
> hehe this was chapter 2 to explain more abt characters! hope u liked it! comment whatever you like <3
> 
> IG (@warmdaelight)


	3. mission: make na jaemin stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jaemins first appearance!!!!!

Jeno thinks this mission was a little too rushed. Renjun notified them of the problem 2 whole days before they’re supposed to set off to solve it. It leaves Jeno very little time to thoroughly scout the area and find escape routes. 

His team was forced to dive right into an enemy’s base without any prior knowledge aside from what the basic blueprint could offer. It’s a little inconvenient, but Jeno’s team is undeniably the best Elite could offer. Within Elite, they were the elites. Leaving the van one by one, Jeno and the boys—excluding Yangyang—make their way to the backdoor.

Before they get there, Yangyang disables the power in the building for a couple of seconds, hacking into the system to replace it with pre-recorded footage. With that, the team’s entry into the building remains undetected. 

They’re careful, like always. Jisung part ways to head to the second exit which is the furthest one from where they are to block it off while Donghyuck does the same for the third exit. Chenle lingers around the first exit, letting Jeno in before setting up a motion sensor that Yangyang can monitor for any activities. 

“This is Alpha. Bravo, are you in?” Jeno whispers under his breath, calling out to his teammate.

“This is Bravo. I’m in,” Donghyuck responds.

Jeno sneaks around the corridor, lowering the muzzle of his gun as he does so. He hears voices approaching closer, hears boisterous laughter. Not a second later, Jeno strikes one of them in the face with the butt of the gun, knocking them out. There are two more to take care of. 

They try to make a lot of noise to call for backup, but Jeno kicks the second guy right in the crotch as he dodges a punch from the third guy. He delivers a hard swing to the head of the second one who's doubled over in pain, knocking them out. 

Jeno turns to the one who tried to punch him, the last one, and gives a hard kick to the side of their thigh, on the shin, and square on the knee. This series of blows causes them to sway on their feet, head dizzy, before they stumble onto the ground on all fours. Jeno takes the chance to knock them out once and for all. 

He drags all three unconscious bodies into an empty janitor’s closet by the side so anyone passing by wouldn’t figure out there’s a threat in the building. 

“Charlie, report,” Jeno continues without a single hassle. He didn’t break out a single drop of sweat. 

“Charlie is in. I’m approaching the main office,” Jisung whispers right back. 

“Good. Delta, your situation?” Jeno sneaks right past an office full of men and moves along. He has to make it to the boss’ office on the fifth floor.

“Delta approaching Choi Rijin’s office, Boss,” Chenle chirps merrily.

“Bravo, move on to procedure 2,” Jeno commands. 

He heads for the stairway, moving fast in utter silence. Jeno turns left and sees another figure dressed in black crouched so low they’re almost waddling. With relief, Jeno breathes out a sigh once he’s regrouped with Donghyuck. Wherever the boss is, the bodyguard should be there too. It’s good that Jeno can collaborate with Donghyuck to take down their respective targets. 

“This is Delta! Choi Rijin has been taken care of!” Chenle happily announces.

“What a coincidence. Charlie’s done with Lee Minhyuk,” Jisung then echoes a few seconds after Chenle, panting. 

“Great. Locate Na Jaemin immediately,” Jeno answers with a smile. 

Jeno knows something’s fishy. Not even 20 minutes into the mission and they’ve already gunned down 2 out of 4 of the targets. Although it’s a given that Jisung and Chenle were assigned to the weakest ones, their offices were located somewhere crowded. There should have been far more of Hyena’s men lingering around.

Jeno and Donghyuck go up the stairs from the first floor, heading towards the fifth one. On the way there, on the third floor, they hear people talking. Most likely, there’s more than 5 at once. Jeno can handle them—what more Donghyuck—but in such a tight space like the stairwell, fighting in it won’t do any good. 

Jeno creaks open the door to the third floor, checking for anyone in the hallway. When he sees that it’s empty, they both snake right out the door. Jeno waits for the voices to fade out before heading back in. Climbing up another two floors is easy, and there weren’t any more obstacles to get through to get to the boss’ office. 

Standing right outside the door, though, was Lee Wook. He’s a big man, over 6 foot tall, and he’s burly. To put it simply, he’s thrice the size of Donghyuck, and they’re quite possibly equally matched in terms of strength. Peeking around the corner of a wall, they observe Lee Wook a little longer to see if there are any weak points.

“Fucking hell, CEO Huang wanted me to handle that big guy?” Donghyuck hisses under his breath. “He didn’t look this fucking massive in his pictures.” 

“The bigger you are, the bigger target you become,” Jeno speaks with a frown on his face. “I’ll cover for you.” 

“Great.” Donghyuck scoffs. 

Jeno dashes out immediately. He has long slung his gun to his back instead of holding it so he can use his hands instead. To him, guns would only hinder him from taking down his targets while simultaneously staying undetected efficiently. The moment he pulls the trigger, the whole building’s going to come rushing in a panic. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Lee Wook roars, about to swing a punch right at Jeno, but the latter dodges it. He proceeds to kick the back of Lee Wook’s knee, making him wobble on his feet. 

“What, big guy, can’t take on my colleague?” Donghyuck calls out while laughing, triggering Lee Wook’s aggro. “You’re out of luck, ‘cause you’re my target.” 

Lee Wook’s a bodyguard and it couldn’t just be because he’s big and strong. He must have some skill or some semblance of knowledge regarding fighting techniques. The only reason why Jeno could make him shake a little was because he was taken off guard. Now that Lee Wook’s charging right at Donghyuck, it’s extremely hard not to be cautious. 

“This is doable.” Donghyuck snickers. To Lee Wook, it might be a simple statement to agitate him—make him feel looked down upon—but to Jeno, Donghyuck is telling him to go. 

That’s what he does. He enters Kim Sangyeon’s office. Inside, he sees nobody. There’s no one, no Kim Sangyeon, no extra bodyguards, no one. 

“This is Alpha, Kim Sangyeon has gotten away,” Jeno speaks through gritted teeth.

“Charlie has spotted Mark Lee!” Jisung whispers, panting. He’s presumably sneaking around to observe Mark Lee, waiting for further orders.

“Don’t let him out of your sight! He knows where Kim Sangyeon is!” Jeno leaves the office immediately. “I want him alive and conscious. Keep him distracted for me.” 

“Right on, Boss!” Jeno could practically hear Jisung’s frown through his earpiece. 

Seeing as how Donghyuck is slowly gaining the upper hand, Jeno figures it’s okay to leave him be. They have different targets anyway, and Jeno’s main one is Kim Sangyeon. 

“Meet up with us once you’re done with him,” Jeno calls out in passing. 

Donghyuck can only grunt as a response, meeting chest first with Lee Wook’s elbow hit. The sounds of Donghyuck fighting with Lee Wook fade away as Jeno runs towards where Jisung is. 

“This is Charlie, he’s extremely strong,” Jisung grits out. 

“You don’t have to beat him, just stall,” Jeno orders. 

“Well, yeah, I know, but it fucking hurts, so can you please get here? We’re near the blue walls, first floor.” 

He runs down to the first floor once again, turning left as per Jisung’s direction to follow the blue walls. He hears Jisung’s voice groaning in pain and runs towards it within mere seconds. Jeno joins in the fight, punching Mark Lee in the abdomen to push him back. While Mark Lee stumbles back, Jeno helps Jisung get up on his two feet. 

“How strong?” Jeno hastily wipes the sweat dripping down the side of his forehead away. Next to him, Jisung pants like mad.

“I don’t fucking know, just take the guy off of my hands, fuck.” Jisung limps out of the way, shaking his head out of exhaustion. 

The moment Jeno lunges towards Mark Lee, he’s held back by someone to his left. Automatically, he fights back. A flurry of movement flies by as the rest watches on. When they halt, Jeno has a dagger to their throat, and they have a handgun to the side of his head.

“Na Jaemin,” Jeno breathes out. His hold on his dagger doesn’t go lax, though, because he still has a gun pointed at his head. A gasp is heard from the back, most likely from Jisung.

“Mark Lee isn’t your target,” Jaemin says instead of acknowledging Jeno’s surprised expression. 

“Where is Kim Sangyeon?” Jeno asks.

“Mark Lee doesn’t know,” Jaemin answers. 

“What do you know, former Advisor Na?” Jeno presses the dagger even closer to Jaemin’s neck. 

Jaemin tightens his grip on his handgun. “I know a lot, Elite General Lee Jeno.” 

There’s a shaky breath taken in by Mark Lee. Jaemin looks, and he sees Donghyuck pressing the muzzle of his rifle to Mark Lee’s head. When did Donghyuck even get there? Jaemin doesn’t know. But for someone to sneak up on Mark Lee and catch him unguarded like so is an extremely difficult feat. Jaemin looks away, initiating eye contact once again with Jeno.

“Tell me one reason why I shouldn’t let my men burst Mark Lee’s brains out,” Jeno enunciates every single syllable clearly, slowly, like he’s talking to a child. 

**_Jaemin tackles Jeno down, gritting his teeth as he grunts out a curse. Once Jeno’s down on his back and Jaemin has straddled him in place, he presses a dagger to Jeno’s throat. In response, Jeno presses a pistol to Jaemin’s throat too._ **

**_“We’re tied again,” Jeno says._ **

**_Jaemin gets off of him wordlessly, face covered in sweat and body sore from all the roughhousing. Jeno doesn’t mind the cold shoulder. It’s normal for Jaemin to have his days where he talks less and does more. He thinks there’s nothing wrong._ **

**_Jeno dusts off the grass in his hair and on his clothes, liking the wind that’s come by while they were sparring. At least it’s cool enough to dry their sweats off._ **

**_“Jeno, I’m leaving,” Jaemin speaks up._ **

**_“You have to clean the area up too. I can’t be the only one putting all this away—”_ **

**_“I’m leaving,” Jaemin repeats. “Jeno, I’m dropping out of Elite.”_ **

“We’re tied again,” Jaemin mumbles. For a moment there, Jeno thinks he sees Jaemin’s face soften up considerably. It’s almost as if Jaemin saw the memory playing out in Jeno’s head, read Jeno’s mind screaming his name again, and again, and again. “Don’t do this. Mark Lee’s my friend.”

“I still think of you as a friend,” Jeno retorts.

“Don’t do this,” Jaemin repeats himself.

“Where’s Kim Sangyeon?” Jeno diverts the topic to what matters first. 

“I can tell you,” Jaemin offers. “But let Mark Lee and I go.” 

“How do I know you’re not lying?” Jeno frowns.

“Why do you think there were so little people in the building today? Who do you think did that?” Jaemin slowly lowers his gun, letting his hands hang loose by his side. It’s a sign of trust. It’s an indication that he trusts Jeno not to slice his head off. 

Jeno lowers his dagger as well, stepping back to make it obvious that he no longer has the intention to attack. Shooting Donghyuck a look, he tells his subordinate to stand down as well. 

Jaemin helping him out could only mean he was receiving Jeno’s messages all along. It means he read Jeno’s rants, he heard Jeno crying on some nights, means he knew Jeno couldn’t let him go. For that, Jeno feels betrayed. 

“Lead me to Kim Sangyeon,” Jeno forces out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i try my best to write action scenes. udk how much research i did to see which sensitive points of the body are the best to hit ckfnmfnf i watched a few choreographed fights to see if my action scenes are possible fkndnfnfnf im sorry if its bad kcndnfn i tried
> 
> jaemins first appearance how we feeling lads and lassies and people? we good? 
> 
> im finally not scared to reveal my priv twt: @exolympico so 🥺🥺 (i twt abt jeno a lot) my ig is @warmdaelight


	4. na jaemin helps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more jaemin!

Jeno, Jisung, and Donghyuck, along with Jaemin and Mark make their way to the fourth secret exit they couldn’t have known about. Jeno orders Chenle to check the area outside where the fourth exit is, telling him to try to find anything out of place. Meanwhile, Jeno tells Yangyang to block off the only exit road from the building. 

“Outside the secret exit, there’s this road that leads to a warehouse. He has men stationed there at all times. We store our drugs, our firearms, cars, our everything there,” Jaemin explains. “Minhyung—I mean Mark—was supposed to guard that warehouse. I put him there thinking he wouldn’t come to the office.”

“Sorry, Jaemin,” Mark voices out, tone laced with guilt and regret. “I was worried they’d get to you.”

“Like I suspected, Choi Rijin replaced you,” Jeno butts in impolitely. 

Jaemin doesn’t respond to that, only trotting slightly faster to lead the group to the warehouse through the second route he’s mapped out personally. Jeno smiles, already devising a plan to get Jaemin to open up to him once again. It’s been so long since he’s seen him, there’s no way Jeno would let this opportunity go. 

Once they reach the warehouse, Jeno sees Chenle already peeping through the window. “Delta, regroup.”

Chenle turns around and sees his team hiding within the trees and shadows. He beams at them, carefully sneaking back to them with information already at the tip of his tongue. He excitedly points to his bulletproof vest before pointing to the warehouse. 

“What?” Jeno frowns.

“Tranquilisers!” Chenle whisper-shouts. “There are only 11 of them in there and we each have two shots.” 

“Good thinking. Jisung takes my tranquilisers, Chenle takes Donghyuck’s ones. You two shoot as many as you can down, and Donghyuck and I will take care of the remaining.” Jeno’s about to signal for the plan to be set in motion, but Jaemin clears his throat loudly.

“What about us?” Jaemin cocks an eyebrow up to the sky.

“You want to help?” Jeno asks incredulously. “You do know all outside help must be dragged back to Elite to fill in a formal report after the mission’s completed, right?” 

“You seem to forget I was, unfortunately, an Elite once.” Jaemin grimaces. “I know the basic protocol.”

“Then why?” Jeno tilts his head to the side, smiling wide. “Why go back to Elite if it’s such a misfortune on your part?”

He already knows why. Quite possibly for the same reason Jaemin was replaced, Hyena’s men will come after him. Whether or not it was Jaemin’s doing for more than half of Hyena’s men to be out the same day Elite attacked, he will be blamed solely because he’s the only one who could be connected to Elite. 

Jeno did think of bringing that exact issue up to convince Jaemin into following him back to Elite, but he didn’t expect Jaemin to be so decisive. He’s evidently smart, he knows when to relent to protect himself. 

“I don’t know. Maybe I just miss Chairman Huang.” Jaemin shrugs. “Get on with the mission. Give me your orders, Elite General.” 

“Alrighty then.” Jeno turns back to face his men. “Plan stays the same except Mark goes with Jisung and Chenle while Jaemin comes with Donghyuck and me.” 

After preparing for the next procedure, Jeno, Donghyuck and Jaemin crouch by the exit, hidden from people’s view. Jisung gets three shots, Chenle gets three, and Mark gets two. Through the windows, Jisung starts shooting, not missing anyone at all. Chenle does the same but he’s more focused, more precise with where he’s aiming. Seeing that, Mark catches on and aims for their backs too. 

It’s a sight to behold. Eight men sway on their feet, looking at each other in confusion. After about a minute, they drop to the floor. One by one they go. The remaining three men watch on in confusion as they try to wake their colleagues up. 

That’s when Donghyuck bursts in, charging right at the guy standing furthest to the back, leaving the other two for Jaemin and Jeno to handle. They’re smart, they don’t take one each. They take on both at the same time so it makes their two enemies disoriented. They don’t know who to aim for. Jaemin stabs one of them in the thigh with the dagger he snatched from Jeno’s calf pocket, hearing him grunt in pain.

Jaemin promptly dashes to the other one to aim for his thigh too but gets blocked. The man tries to grab a hold of Jaemin, playing dirty by wanting to grab his hair, but Jaemin clutches onto that filthy hand and stabs into his arm instead. Without even giving him a chance to scream, Jeno swoops in with a hit to his temple, promptly knocking him out. 

The man with the stab wound in his thigh grits his teeth, glaring up at Jaemin menacingly. He violently spits onto the ground dangerously close to Jaemin’s shoe. “Betrayer.” 

“Where’s Kim Sangyeon?” Jeno asks, taking the gun propped across his back to the front. He presses the cold muzzle of his gun to the man’s temple. 

“Fuck you,” the man curses.

Donghyuck, while panting, swats the back of the man’s head so hard the sound from the impact echoed in the warehouse. He holds back from snickering, but catches Jeno’s chastising eyes and fails miserably. The man turns around to glare at Donghyuck.

“What? Can’t a man laugh?” Donghyuck immediately goes back to frowning. 

“You’re not even taking this seriously.” The man scoffs. “How much do they pay you to catch my boss?” 

“Oh, a hefty sum, believe it,” Jeno responds in Donghyuck’s stead. “If I complete this mission, I get so much money your gang couldn’t even begin to imagine.” 

The man laughs in his face. “I believe you’d lose out a lot if you didn’t get to my boss.” 

“Not quite.” Jeno’s expression morphs into one full of smugness. He’s so cocky about it, Jaemin wanted to slap him in the face right then and there. “If we fail to complete the mission, our pay is reduced by a quarter. That’s still a lot of money.” 

“If we complete the mission, we get the money, you keep your life. If we don’t, we still get the money, and you die,” Donghyuck chimes in, threatening the man with an eerily kind smile sitting upon his lips. “Pick your pick.”

A few seconds of silence hangs in the air like heavy grey clouds minutes before it pours. Jeno knows they already broke the man, all they need now is a location. Jeno pressures the man to open up by staring at him without blinking. Sure enough it works because his lips start to tremble. 

“He…” The man gulps. “He left about 10 minutes ago to load the money and drugs into the car. He’ll be driving off any minute now.” 

“HQ,” Jeno calls in, speaking to his tactical earpiece. 

“Am here,” Yangyang responds immediately.

“He’s heading over to you.” Jeno breathes out in relief, thankful that this mission’s practically over. “Take care of it.”

“Okay,” Yangyang acknowledges before his voice disappears altogether. Jeno knows that means he’s getting ready to fight. 

Now that everything’s over, Jisung starts to groan under his breath from the soreness throbbing in his whole body. The pain suddenly comes hitting them full force as soon as the adrenaline from before dies down. Donghyuck is limping, Jisung’s leaning on Chenle for most of the way back to the van, and Jeno’s right arm stings. He didn’t know when but he apparently has a shallow cut on his forearm.

Donghyuck almost trips when he has to step over a bulging root, but he quickly regains his balance to save face. Jisung laughs seeing that, and Chenle scolds him before Donghyuck could start screaming.

“Minhyung, go help him,” Jaemin mutters under his breath.

Straight away, Mark slings one of Donghyuck’s arms around his neck and relieves the latter of some of his body weight. Mark blurts out, “You’re quite heavy.” 

“Excuse me?” Donghyuck’s voice goes higher in pitch towards the end of his affronted question. He glares at Mark.

“Mark Lee, don’t be rude,” Chenle starts scolding, yet again, before Donghyuck could start shrieking. 

“You had a gun to his head and now he’s helping you walk. I think it’s only fair that he gets to call you heavy,” Jeno says with a chuckle, earning a deathly look from his subordinate. In his peripheral vision, to his left, Jeno notices Jaemin staring at him as well.

“You may be my boss, but don’t forget that I know where you live,” Donghyuck warns, although Jeno knows he’s just joking. 

He bursts out laughing at what Donghyuck said, shaking his head out of goodwill. “You scare me.” 

“That’s such an honor, Boss.” Donghyuck ends up laughing along. 

From afar, they could already see the van parked in an odd manner, blocking the whole road. Adjacent from it parks a black sedan with the door to the driver’s seat wide open. There’s a man sitting behind the steering wheel, blood dripping down his neck. Yangyang had taken care of him just like he was ordered to. Jeno’s relieved.

“Now, back to Elite,” Jeno states, giving Jaemin a look that says he couldn’t back out of it now even if he wants to. 

Obediently, Mark gets in the van. He then turns around and holds out a hand to Donghyuck, helping him to climb up easily. With a small smile, Mark nods his head a “you’re welcome” when Donghyuck mumbles a curt “thanks” out of basic manners. Jaemin gives him a peculiar look of which he brushes off by turning his attention away. 

“Is Chairman Huang still healthy?” Jaemin fills in the silence with a halfhearted question. 

“More energetic than the younger board directors, his son says.” Jeno leans back against the walls of the van, sighing as he takes a look at the cut on his arm. 

“Pass me the First Aid Kit,” Jaemin says to Jisung who’s the closest to it. 

Jisung hands him the box without thinking. Belatedly, though, Jisung realises he should’ve looked to Jeno for approval. Jaemin twists his whole body to be able to face Jeno, asking him to show his right arm. 

Wherever Jaemin touches him, his skin tingles. Jeno honestly doesn’t want Jaemin touching him if it makes him feel this strange, but he can’t deny it doesn’t feel too bad either. Deciding it’s obviously not good for his heart to let Jaemin come any closer, Jeno retrieves his arm back. Clearing his throat, he grabs the disinfectant from Jaemin’s hands and dresses his wound himself.

“Was just trying to help.” Jaemin rolls his eyes.

“Thank you,” Jeno mumbles.

“You didn’t even let me help—”

“Thank you for remembering me.” Jeno smiles. 

“Jeno…” Jaemin sighs. “Don’t do this.” 

“Why not?” Jeno seems insulted. That’s not what Jaemin wants. “Are you embarrassed of me? Embarrassed that we were friends?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous!” Jaemin buries his face in his hands. A second later, he looks back up into Jeno’s eyes. “Not in front of everyone, okay?” 

“Fine, but only because you implied we’ll be talking about this later.” 

From the sidelines, Donghyuck, Jisung, Chenle, and Yangyang couldn’t believe how their normally level-headed Boss could act so childish. They’re aware how important Na Jaemin is to Jeno, and it’s all because their first ever mission as Captains were to look for Na Jaemin. Jeno would never fail to ask about the status report every few months. However, they would never have expected Jeno to act this differently around Na Jaemin.

“I missed you,” Jeno mumbles under his breath after being done with sulking. 

Instead of answering, Jaemin takes Jeno’s right hand in his and helps with bandaging the wound. His touch is light, but firm, like always. 

“I’m starting to wonder how a soft puppy like you coped without me being around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disappeared for a while cos i was busy writing my most recent nomin fic that i already posted up, i was heavily—HEAVILY—invested in that story. would really appreciate if you could check that out too (its romance/mystery) 
> 
> im back to writing this one hehe~ im invested in THIS storyline too dont worry
> 
> my [IG](https://www.instagram.com/warmdaelight/) | [TWT](https://twitter.com/exolympico)


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